Big crowd turns out for hearing of Delphi murders suspect
DELPHI, Ind. — The court hearing for 2017 Delphi murders suspect Richard Allen on Tuesday brought a big crowd to the Carroll County Courthouse.
Allen was arrested on Oct. 28 and murder charges were announced on Oct. 31. He faces two counts of murder for the deaths of 13-year-old Abigail “Abby” Williams and 14-year-old Liberty “Libby” German near Delphi in February 2017. He is being jailed while awaiting trial.
In Tuesday’s crowd at the Courthouse was the Libby’s family. Her family didn’t want to speak on camera about what happened in court Tuesday. Her sister Kelsi posted on Twitter, “I feel your love and support today and always. Thank you,” adding a gray heart emoticon.
The family weren’t the only ones from Delphi who came to the hearing. Ted Guy lives close to where the alleged murders happened. He said it was a priority for him to be at Tuesday’s hearing. “I just wanted to see what I could see. There’s so many rumors and podcasts and whatever; you don’t know what to believe, so I just wanted to see for myself,” Guy said.
John Smith owns the shop across the street from the Courthouse. He says there has been a dark cloud of energy surrounding Delphi since “Libby” German and “Abby” Williams were killed, “I think it’s put a lot of stress, especially younger people. They wonder, you know, ‘can this happen again? Is there somebody out there yet that’s still the murderer of two children,’” said Smith.
Smith is glad the case is moving forward. “It’s time to get it in court, get it heard and get it over with.”
Guy agreed. That’s why he was OK with the prosecution wanting to keep the probable cause affidavit secret. “If it’s going to hurt their case, I don’t want to see it released,” said Guy.
If the prosecution of Allen leads to a conviction, Guy and Smith said, the entire community would be relieved.
Allen’s attorneys on Monday asked that Allen be released from jail without posting bond, or that he be released on what the request calls a “reasonable bail amount.” His attorneys argue that the probable cause does not have evidence of guilt or create a strong presumption of guilt for Allen. The judge set a bail hearing for Feb. 17 in the Carroll County Courthouse.